Ramy Kamel
Ramy Kamel is a human rights defender belonging to the Coptic religious minority in Egypt whose work concentrates primarily on defending the right to freedom of religion. He is one of the founders of the Maspero Youth Union, which works towards achieving justice for and ending the discrimination against Copts. Ramy Kamil also works on documenting human rights violations against his religious community in Upper Egypt which has seen church burnings and the kidnapping of female minors.
A significant crackdown on civil society in Egypt has been taking place since 2014. HRDs face an extremely challenging situation due to restrictions imposed on civil society and peaceful public gatherings and protests, travel bans, the arrest and sentencing of HRDs, bloggers, journalists and protesters, as well as an ongoing smear campaign against human rights groups.
